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W. A. Ritchie letter to the Board of Regents, regarding the proposed University Building on the Montlake campus site, March 10, 1894

Gentlemen-In anticipation of the possibility of the plan for the proposed University Building submitted by us meeting with favorable consideration at your hands in all except the estimate of cost, We beg leave to submit to you the following guarantee and surety proposition covering that point. Should our plan as submitted meet with your approval and should you have doubts as to whether the building can be contracted and built for the amount stated in our estimate accompanying our designs. We hereby propose to enter into a written guarrantee [sic] as you may prepare covering either one or both of the following offers. We propose to guarrantee [sic] that our building can be erected, finished and entirely completed in a first class manner for the amount stated in our former estimate, and as surety to this guarrantee [sic] we propose that you may adopt our plan conditionally upon this

[Written in left margin]Signature covered under folder. Proposition of guarrantee [sic] of cost and surety to the said guarrantee [sic], of the competitive design for the proposed building for the University of Washington Design "French Renaissance" of time of "Francis I" exterior, stone base, pressed brick & terra cotta trimmings.

In 1854, territorial governor, Isaac Ingalls Stevens, suggested that a university for Washington Territory be established. The school did not officially open until November 4, 1861 with 30 students. In 1862, the Washington territorial legislature incorporated the school and appointed a Board of Regents. Throughout the university's early years, the university consisted not only of college curricula but also preparatory school curricula. The school faced constant changes in administration, enrollment and financial support in its first twenty years, often closing due to lack of students or funds. By the 1890s, the school had grown by leaps and bounds and exceeded the size of its original campus. A graduate of the school and later professor, Edmond Meany, served as head of a committee to choose a new site off of Union Bay, further north and east of its current site. In early 1894, land commissioners examined architecture plans entered in a drawing to determine whose plans would be used for the construction of university buildings. The first prize went to the work of Charles Saunders who proposed a design in the style of the French Renaissance. This letter from W. A. Ritchie serves as an accompanying guarantee and surety for the estimates associated with Saunders' proposed plan. In 1895 the building was completed. When the new campus opened in 1895, this structure served as the university's main administration building. In 1910, the building was renamed Denny Hall.

Gentlemen-In anticipation of the possibility of the plan for the proposed University Building submitted by us meeting with favorable consideration at your hands in all except the estimate of cost, We beg leave to submit to you the following guarantee and surety proposition covering that point. Should our plan as submitted meet with your approval and should you have doubts as to whether the building can be contracted and built for the amount stated in our estimate accompanying our designs. We hereby propose to enter into a written guarrantee [sic] as you may prepare covering either one or both of the following offers. We propose to guarrantee [sic] that our building can be erected, finished and entirely completed in a first class manner for the amount stated in our former estimate, and as surety to this guarrantee [sic] we propose that you may adopt our plan conditionally upon this

[Written in left margin]Signature covered under folder. Proposition of guarrantee [sic] of cost and surety to the said guarrantee [sic], of the competitive design for the proposed building for the University of Washington Design "French Renaissance" of time of "Francis I" exterior, stone base, pressed brick & terra cotta trimmings.